" />My sister entered the contest too - she did an "Alice In Wonderland" them. It is so awesome! Here is a pic, but go visit her blog to see the process and hear Avril's song playing in the background . . . and you MUST read where the polka dot ruffle came from! It's great!
Love this!
Nothing like a contest deadline from Prima to get my tote bag finished up! Pressure motivates me! Here's my happy little tote bag. It makes me smile.
Donna Downey's INSPIRED. event began with each of us receiving a canvas tote bag full of goodies. This is just one of Donna's alterable canvas items. See them all here. I'm addicted and loving it!
I was out shopping with my daughter when I spotted this adorable dress on the 75% rack. I loved the colors and patterns, so I bought it for the fabric. I cut it into strips, while my canvas bag was drying from a coat of acrylic paint. During Donna Downey's "Apron" miniworkshop, she showed us how to paint on canvas with watered-down acrylics. It was like ooooooooooooooooh.
At the INSPIRED. event, CD Muckosky taught us how to use die-cut papers as stencils for spray paint or Ranger Color Wash. Here is a brown paper bag I sprayed with various color washes.
I decided to try this same technique on my canvas bag, except I used a stencil brush with red acrylic paint (I didn't want the over-spray look)
I had just adhered the red polka dot ruffle, using fabric glue . . . so my clothespins are holding it in place until it dries.
The author of Canvas Remix, Alisa Burke has TOTALLY been inspiring me lately! I found her blog through a link on Kelly Rae Robert's blog and immediately fell in love. I decided to use two of her techniques on my canvas tote.
The first technique is from her book, making layered flowers from a piece of canvas (fabric). I purchased some canvas fabric at INSPIRED., so decided to try it with Donna Downey's new foam stamp Daisies. It's 10 1/4" ginormous inches tall and I'm loving it.
So I cut three piece of canvas, slightly larger than stamp size and painted each a different color. Then here's where I started my famous habit of "If you give a mouse a cookie . . . " It goes something like this.
1) I liked CD's stencil technique, so tried that again with black spray paint
2) I wanted to stamp image to show up, so stamped it with white acrylic paint
3) I like how Alisa Burke and CD both use so much fun stitching in their projects
So I decided to try them all! Then remembered - oh ya, I was just wanting a floral stamp on the front. I loved all these techniques and had a lot of fun.
I decided to use some of the dress fabric for the tote handle. The handle is adjustable, so I had to get creative. I used Alisa Burke's wrap and stitch method that I saw her use on flip flops! That blog post is here.
Crazy-stitching over these strips was very fun!
I turned under both raw edges and used a whip-stitch.
I sewed together strips of the dress and trimmings that I had. I was thrilled to find out all this bulk would fit into my sewing machine. I really wanted that flower stitched on!
I added the extra petals to the flip side of the polka dot flower for a new look (never ended up using the third red flower - saved for another project). I used my machine for the fabric and trim, along with the flower stems and petals . . . but found I couldn't turn all the bulk of the bag to sew the flower petals - so I hand-stitched them on. Now I need to get online and find the presser foot that will let me move around freely without turning it all!
I found a piece of fabric that I had stamped INSPIRE on. This was from a fabric book I made last year at Donna's INSPIRED. event!
And that was it! I love my new bag!
I suppose you could call me the "Bag Lady". I'm sort of obsessed with making purses.
My sister had a birthday this summer and loves all things Paris-theme, so that was my plan for this purse.
After making several purses, I've learned there are some materials that don't withstand the normal wear and tear we put our purses through - like anything made from paper. So I've switched to foam, fabric, metal, and ribbon.
My favorite find making this purse was FABRIC. Fabric is durable and can be printed on. I used these fabric sheets that can be put through an ink jet printer
For Paris-inspired elements, I purchased and downloaded two digital kits: European Vacation and Made In France , both designed by Sande Krieger.
Then I printed them onto the fabric sheets and sewed or glued them onto the purse.
I also used some stamps on shrink art film to make charms
Here is my favorite little shrink art guy - he's hard to see in this pic, but he's made from black shrink art and stamped with white flourishes.
It was a fun purse to make. My sister, Holly, made a matching wallet to go inside. You can see that on her blog HERE
our real estate agent, Susie Beck, was so patient with us. She spent six months showing us houses. We never did total the number of homes we saw, but I'd guess it's over 50. She helped us adjust to the east coast sticker shock, decide on gated vs. un-gated communities, realize what we really wanted for our family, and was available pretty much all the time! She listened, bit her tongue, listened, shook her head, drove endless miles, made suggestions, showed more homes, and listened again.
we love susie!
so I had to make her something for her time, kindness, and patience with us! she and her husband are huge William & Mary college fans. Her husband and two adult sons are alumni from W&M. They follow the Tribe football team to all their games, tailgate, and cheer for all the games!
so it was easy to choose what kind of gift I'd make for her. It had to be a W&M Tribe football themed denim handbag. With as many purses as I've decorated, I'm beginning to think my new name might be the "bag lady", but I'll hold off on that for a while.
here's what we gave her on our closing date
Thank you, Susie . . . what a trooper!!!
see the photo album of all the purses I've made HERE
I'm so excited to share that 4 of my denim purses are published in the current issue of Stampington's "Haute Handbags" magazine. It was exciting enough, but then I got my issue and wow, they did a fabulous job with the layout and photography. So cool to see them in there! Here are some pics.
So, I have to say this made me smile. Kinda fun! ; )
AND . . . .guess what's even funner (I know, it's not a word)? My sister has a handbag published in the same issue . . . just a few pages back. Check this out!
You can check out her blog here . She just taught a workshop in northern Wyoming (Worland), our hometown. We also have a website together at 2designsisters.
That's all for now. I haven't been creating much - still cleaning, sorting, and organizing. I did do a painted journal page. I'll post that later in the week.
Diana
